"All these faces that appear in close-up in the news or in the press are also men. The name of Lionel Terray, one of the most famous living mountaineers, comes back periodically in conversations, because he participated in a rescue or because he helped to conquer a great world summit like Annapurna or the Makalu. In The Conquerors of the Useless , it is the whole mountain and its secrets that it reveals to us without emphasis and especially without pretension. We see how a little boy can already sense his vocation and soon to live only for the mountain; how this passion led him from the Alps to the Himalayas, from Canada to Peru. Each story of his prodigious ascensions will fascinate those who know the mountain only through the cable car. Indeed, this book that Lionel Terray wrote entirely himself using notes and stories in which he fixed his memories throughout his career, was written for them. The Conquerors of the Useless is an indispensable book for anyone interested in the heroic fate of the last survivors of the Knights race. " (from publisher's website)
Contents
Decouverte de la montagne
Premieres conquetes
La guerre des Alpes
Je rencontre Lachenal
La face nord de l'Eiger
Guide de grandes courses
L'Annapurna
Sur les sommets du monde
Notes
EVE-DELACROIX PRIZE OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY 1962
French edition signed by Lionel Terray
Newsclipping tucked inside entitled "La mort de Lionel Terray a stufefie les membres du Ski Club"